


Agent Epsilon

by whatever55



Category: Numb3rs (TV)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash, pre-Charlie/Ian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 16:38:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18760297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatever55/pseuds/whatever55
Summary: Ian Edgerton gets called in on a case with the number one sniper.





	Agent Epsilon

**Author's Note:**

> Well this little plot bunny hit me of what if the number one sniper was only ever referred to by a code name and what if Ian knew them and got called to work with them. A little (that turned not so little) Birthday one-shot for Angel N Darkness. Happy Birthday!

**Location Quantico, Virginia**

A man sat in front of the director’s desk. They were arguing. The director wanted to send the unknown man to a hostage situation with a sniper that was low in the ranks and could be taken out in an “accident” after.

The other man wouldn’t hear of this and insisted that a different man, high up in the rankings could keep a secret.

The director surrendered and paged one of his secretaries to find the man in the building.

**Agent Epsilon**

Crystal walked briskly to the firing range where she knew her target would be, chewing gum obnoxiously loud. She played the blonde bimbo well with the slutty skirt and pigtails, but that is why the director kept her on. People weren’t afraid to talk in front of her cause they thought she was too stupid to understand. The director figured that one day she might overhear a corrupt agent and be able to give him that info.

There were only two people who saw through that façade. One was sitting in the director’s office. The other she now saw teaching a class of wannabe snipers.

“Agent Edgerton,” she called to get his attention standing at the door. He looked up from the student he was teaching and she continued speaking. “The director needs to see you.” A couple of his students snickered at the thought of the scary sniper god getting in trouble. He glared at them and they immediately went silent as they shifted on their feet like naughty school children who were about to be told off. Crystal smirked as Edgerton dismissed his class and came to her at the door. She led him out and they began to walk to the director’s office.

“Did he happen to say what he wanted with me?” Edgerton asked.

Crystal looked covertly around, looking for eavesdroppers. When she was sure no one was listening she leaned into Edgerton and whispered conspiratorially “Agent Epsilon is here.”

Edgerton’s eyes widened a fraction. That was the sniper that was number one. No one knew who he was or even his name since everyone knew Epsilon was his code name. “And what does this have to do with me?” he asked.

She looked around again and Edgerton had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at her attempt of being subtle and gossipy.

“We could hear Epsilon and the Director arguing and Epsilon asked for you, but we couldn’t hear the full argument to know what it is about.”

Edgerton felt a cold sweat break across the back of his neck. What could that sniper want with him? He was saved from wondering when Crystal blew a large bubble with her gum. He poked it with his finger.

“One day you are going to get that stuck in your hair,” he told her.

“Only when someone is being mean to me,” she answered with a pout. “Do you realize how many pieces it takes to blow a bubble that magnificent?”

He was saved from answering more than an eye roll when they got to the director’s office. 

Crystal tapped smartly on the door twice and opened it when the director called ‘enter’.

Edgerton walked into the room and saw Agent Epsilon sitting with his back to the door. His jacket was pulled up tight over his neck with a hat touching the top of the coat. The hat was big enough that Edgerton knew that his face would be hidden in shadow until he wanted someone to see it.

“You wanted to see me Director Nielson,” Edgerton said.

“Yes. Sit,” the director said.

Before he could do more than take a few steps, the other sniper spoke.

“Hey Ian. Been a while.”

Ian froze as the man lifted his head and came face to face with a familiar curly head.

He only took a moment to regain his composure but that was enough for the director to interrupt their staring match.

“Yes, Yes. You can catch up later. Edgerton sit. I don’t need to tell you that his identity is to be kept secret I am sure.”

“No sir,” Ian told the director, still glancing in the direction of the only person on Earth he would have never expected to be a sniper, let alone number one.

“Good,” Director Nielson said. “First thing’s first. We find ourselves needing to clean up some mess. Eight months ago there was an attempted terror attack. We obviously neutralized them before they acted and they were sent to Gitmo. We have received confirmation that the two who attempted the attack eight months ago were not working alone and that their accomplices are preparing to strike. We don’t know where they have planned the attack. What we do know is that they are working on a massive bomb that would take out thousands of people if it works.

“This is where you both come in. We have evidence that there is two of them and where they are working on assembling the bomb. We don’t know what stage the bomb is in so we can’t risk one getting killed and the other setting the bomb off if it is viable before he is killed so we need to do it simultaneously.

“They are building the bomb on Long Island, New York. They are in a house we have been watching for the past four days and one seems to always be in the basement and the other in the main part of the house. There is a tiny basement window to make the shot through, which is why we called you on Agent Epsilon since he is often on the other side of the room at an angle to the window. This is the one with the bomb.

“After we leave this meeting there is a black-ops helicopter to take you upstate to a house across the street with a flat roof. You will leave as soon as it is dark, repel down to the roof. You have a bedroom made up for your use. We have calculated that the best time to strike would be 7pm. How the sun is around that time they shouldn’t be able to see the roof. Of course you will likely want to do your own surveillance of the place but I wouldn’t recommend making the shot before then since the one in the main house often looks through the window during the day. After you make the shot you will call me on this number,” he told Charlie, sliding him a card, which Charlie pocketed. “you know what to do when you get voicemail. Do you have any questions?” the director finished briefing them.

“If they are paranoid to look out the window often how is it you have got us all the information. Wouldn’t they have caught a car?” Charlie asked.

Neilson nodded getting that concern. “We didn’t use a car. We set up agents in the house. There were curtains on the windows so we were able to feed tiny cameras through the house and focus them on the relative windows. The images then came to a computer screen. By the time you get to the house there will even be a time-lapsed video of the cameras that showed where they were and a label of location.”

Charlie nodded and was satisfied with everything since he was going to take a look at the video.

After a couple moments when it was clear that there was no more questions he dismissed the two and told them until it was time to go to the rooftop – He recommended just before the sun set – that they could get a motel nearby to start planning on the FBI’s budget.

The two nodded and left the office, with Charlie pulling a mask on that was white with the Epsilon letter on it. Ian raised his eyebrow when he saw that and Charlie shrugged. They didn’t leave the building together, but met outside. Ian didn’t know where Charlie changed – and wasn’t sure he wanted to know – but when he came out the front door he was dressed in a pair of jeans and T-Shirt and carrying a duffle bag which Ian knew must have contained the disguise.

They walked in silence to the nearest non-sleezy looking motel, and Charlie handed a bureau issued credit card asking for two rooms so it looked like they were just going to be here for sleep instead of one of them being a prostitute. 

Once they got to the room, Charlie quickly told Ian his thoughts on how he thought they should handle the terrorists since he knew he was the lead on this one. To his surprise Ian actually agreed. Charlie had known that he was making the right move demanding Ian on this assignment, but he thought that Ian was going to have problems seeing him as more than the math geek.

There was only the bed to sit on to make the plans. After they were made, Charlie flopped down onto his back on one side of the bed and shut his eyes. He could still feel Ian looking down at him and felt the bed shift next to him. “So professor, what happened to you not believing in guns?”

Charlie opened his eyes and looked up at Ian, who was leaned back against the headboard. “I don’t,” Charlie answered with a shrug. “Riffles on the other hand…” he trailed off with a grin. Ian couldn’t help but choke out a laugh.

“When did you get so skilled with a riffle anyway?” Ian asked, knowing that the records of the kills wouldn’t have been false, even if he still couldn’t quite picture the mathematician as the greatest sniper.

Charlie closed his eyes as if he was thinking back. “I was 15 when I started consulting with the NSA. They wanted me to learn self-defense if I was ever in trouble. Since I was still a minor they had to get my lawyer’s permission who was also my mom. She grudgingly agreed but said no guns.” Charlie shrugged. “I am sure you know the NSA they didn’t exactly listen and I didn’t tell my mom because those problems were too good to loose and she would have pulled me right out. I think she knew anyway.” Charlie said with a slight grin. It disappeared as he continued. “My trainer was less then thrilled when I had a perfect hit my first shot. He was convinced it was beginners luck,” Charlie said and Ian could picture his eye roll even through his closed eyes, knowing that they had the same opinion about beginners luck. “My trainer kept making me shoot to prove it that it was beginner’s luck but instead he got more and more pissed off as he made the shot harder and harder and I still got it.”

Charlie opened his eyes to look at Ian. “Before I knew it, I had a rifle in my hand and was making shots that he had considered impossible before. I got sent off for my first actual hunt when I was 17 and old enough that they didn’t need my mom’s permission.” He opened his eyes to look at Ian. “I got back to the motel and vomited but they didn’t care since the shot was something they didn’t think was going to be able to be made since we needed to rely on thermal imaging.” Charlie wasn’t as surprised as he thought he was going to be when Ian didn’t look condescending about the end of his first mission.

“First kill is always the roughest,” Ian said simply, looking at his watch. “So we have three hours before we need to leave for the helicopter. Anything we need to do before leaving?” Ian asked, knowing he was good to go since he didn’t want to make any full plans until he saw the layout, but he would if it made Charlie feel better.

“I don’t really want to make any definite plans until we see what we are dealing with exactly,” Charlie said what he was thinking. “Actually if you don’t mind, I was up all night working on a project for Larry and I could use a nap before we head out since I have the feeling we will want to hit the ground running.”

Ian nodded. “Want me to head to the other room to give you privacy?” he asked, although he was actually comfortable where he was.

Charlie shrugged, rolling onto his side. “I’m tired enough and trust you so it doesn’t matter to me,” he answered, shutting his eyes. Soon after he was snoring.

Ian decided that he didn’t want to move and set his alarm on his phone to go off in three hours just in case he fell asleep too. He put the cell phone back in his pocket, tilted his head back against the headboard and shut his eyes to get some rest himself.

**Agent Epsilon**

He must have fallen asleep at some point because he woke to his cell phone buzzing in his pocket with a crick in his neck. He rolled his neck to ease the stiffness as he fished his cell out of his pocket to stop the alarm.

It was then that he noticed an arm draped across his lap and a weight snuggled into his side that was snoring. He blinked in surprise.

‘Since when did I become a teddy bear. Even more importantly why do I think it is cute,’ he thought in stunned silence before shaking it off. “Charlie, time to get up,” he called shaking his shoulder lightly.

“Five more minutes,” a sleepy voice mumbled before snoring restarted and Ian found himself being pulled even closer. He blinked in astonishment. Not wanting to risk having Charlie wrap around him more he detangled himself as Charlie tried to clutch him tighter.

Ian walked to the bathroom and saw a glass on the counter. He quickly filled it with cold water and walked back into the room, splashing it in Charlie’s face.

Charlie sat up spluttering. “What was that for?”

“You were using me as a teddy bear and didn’t want to wake up,” Ian said simply. “It’s time to head back to the FBI,” he added.

Charlie yawned, but nodded and got up and walked into the bathroom. He came out a few minutes later looking perfectly composed and Ian could admit if only to himself he was slightly jealous about how quickly he went from sleep to ready to go. Now he knew what other people felt looking at him. It was creepy.

Ian went to the bathroom to clean up a bit and came out to see Charlie getting a set of keys from his bag. He grinned at Ian. “Hope you like stairs.”

They walked out of the motel, turning in the keys and walked to the FBI building in silence. When they approached the front Charlie turned to Ian. “What I am about to show you never happened.” Charlie told him.

Curious Ian trailed behind to a side door he noticed but never thought anything of since it was always locked. Charlie fingered one of the keys and put it in the lock. 

He opened the door and motioned Ian to walk in ahead of him. Ian did and Charlie followed, relocking the door.

“Hold up a minute,” Charlie asked him. He went into the bag and pulled out his long black coat and slid that on. He then changed his sneakers to the black ones in the bag and stood up, finally pulling mask and hat on.

Ian blinked as he stared at the transformation. “Are you taller?” He didn’t need to see the grin behind the mask to know it was there.

“Lifts,” Charlie explained, lifting his bag again. “Coming?” Charlie asked starting up the stairs. Ian followed, not knowing where Charlie was going so feeling no need to force himself in the lead, and he needed to get used to Charlie being in charge… this time anyway.

Charlie hadn’t been kidding when he told Ian that he hoped he liked stairs. Fourteen flights later Charlie had finally put another key in a different lock and opened that door. Ian walked through and saw that they were on the roof. Charlie shut the door behind them as Director Neilson came around the corner. 

“Chopper will be here in fifteen minutes,” he told them I brought your rifles up for you. As a reminder when you get to New York you will have tonight and tomorrow to check out surroundings and make a plan before completing your mission tomorrow night. Chopper will land back on the roof at 10pm unless you contact me otherwise. Good luck.” He then went to the door and back into the building.

Ian and Charlie went to the side to get the cases with their weapons. They quickly visually checked everything over to make sure everything looked in order and were just closing their cases when the chopper landed silently on the roof.

Ian and Charlie quickly crouched down and moved quickly to the helicopter. As soon as they were seated they took off to New York. The flight was silent.

**Agent Epsilon**

They landed on the house a few hours later as silently and as unseen as at Quantico.

The two went down into the house and saw that it was empty but that the agents who were doing surveillance left them notes along with two computers. The first one had a current display of what was happening, the second had an image displayed and Charlie knew it was going to be the time lapse video. 

Charlie stripped from his disguise and went to watch the video as Ian started with the notes that the surveillance took. It was silent for a couple hours until Charlie spoke.

“Hey Ian, take a look at this.” Ian moved to the couch that Charlie was sitting on and looked at the paused screen, sitting next to Charlie.

“The guy currently at the table eating is #2. He’s the guy normally in the basement. Person 1 is a lot more paranoid then person 2, so this seems to be the smart move when to strike. Even when eating person 1 kept looking around, seemingly worried that something would happen.”

Ian hit play at the end of Charlie speaking and watched two days quickly. When he was satisfied, he paused the feed again.

“Looks like there is about a 45 minute spread for when they eat, which concurs with the notes the other agents left. The earliest time person 2 started eating is 6pm and the latest 6:45. Since person 1 eats first we should probably figure to be on the roof at 5:30pm in case they are running early since person 1 never takes more than 15 minutes according to the records.”

Charlie nodded in agreement. “We are also going to want to work it where person 1 is away from the bomb just in case the shots don’t fire at the exact same moment.”

“Count one with a silent two and three?” Ian suggested.

Charlie nodded. “I am going to need to do the counting though since my target will be pacing if his pattern holds.”

Ian raised an eyebrow in astonishment. “You mean that isn’t too simple for you?”

Charlie snorted a laugh. “Hardly. One. Two. Three,” he said, knowing that Ian was really asking so that he knew how fast the count was but was too proud to ask.

Ian nodded. “Should we sleep in shifts so we can get some sleep before tomorrow but keep an eye on the feed for anything weird?”

Charlie nodded. “We should eat something first though. Hopefully the agents left food for us.” Charlie began walking to the kitchen.

Ian followed. “In their notes they mentioned that only the fridge works, but they left milk in there and several cereals.”

Charlie nodded, getting the milk out of the fridge and Ian went to the cupboards to hunt for bowls.

He found them, and spoons and everything was put on the table in the kitchen before they turned to look at the boxes of cereal.

Ian quickly grabbed the Coco Puffs without even looking at the other options. Charlie just stared at him as he poured a heaping bowl of it.

Ian must have felt the eyes on him because once the bowl was full he looked at Charlie as he put the box down. “What I can’t have a sweet tooth?”

“I never imagined you to have a sweet tooth, no,” Charlie answered.

Ian raised an eyebrow. “Why Professor, you imagined my eating habits. I’m flattered,” Ian answered, finishing pouring the milk and leaving the room to Charlie’s splutters. He made sure that Charlie didn’t see the grin on his face.

Charlie quickly filled his own bowl before following Ian. “That isn’t what I meant at all.”

“Ok,” Ian answered, shrugging his shoulders.

Charlie got the distinct impression that Ian didn’t believe him. “It isn’t!” he insisted.

“What is that Shakespeare line?” Ian asked. “Me thinks thou doth protest too much.”

Charlie fell silent, pretty sure that there was no way that he would win this argument. They finished eating in silence and Ian was good enough to take both bowls and put them in the sink before returning to the couch.

“You want first watch or want me to take it?” Ian asked.

“I don’t mind taking the first watch,” Charlie answered.

Ian nodded and laid down on the couch, head on Charlie’s thigh and arm curling around his lap.

“Um, what?” Charlie asked, afraid to move.

“Your turn to be the teddy bear,” Ian said shutting his eyes with a smirk before Charlie could say anything else.

Charlie blinked in confusion before settling to watch the screens.

**Agent Epsilon**

Before they knew it, it was time to go up to the roof. They assembled their riffles in silence – Ian might have been salivating a bit at the sight of Charlie’s custom rifle – before they went up to the roof, Charlie carrying a small case with him. 

The two crouched low to the roof as they walked to the ledge on the roof. They lay side by side.

Ian focused easily on the dinning room table, but Charlie couldn’t get the angle he wanted from that tiny window. He could still see his target but it bothered him that he couldn’t see him when he paced out of view. He opened the case and plugged it into his riffle and now he could see his heat signature when he was out of the window.

It didn’t take long for Charlie to figure out his pattern of movement.

“Three,” Charlie spoke. Two seconds later simultaneous shots were fired and their targets crumpled to the floor.

Ian couldn’t resist and finally looked through Charlie’s scope and saw how the middle was normal vision and the edges using Infrared technology.

Ian let out a low whistle. “She’s a beauty. You will have to tell me about her sometime.”

Charlie raised his eyebrow. “Are you really defining a rifle as a woman?”

Ian shrugged. “Can’t say I have anyone in my romantic life male or female so my rifle it is. Is it any different for you?”

Charlie refused to admit that Ian may have a point so remained silent and walked down the stairs, calling in with his standard line.

They packed up their rifles and waited for the helicopter to bring them back to Quantico. If before the helicopter came back Charlie spent some time in the bathroom that retching noises came from, Ian was nice enough not to comment, though he must have heard since he left a bottle of travel mouthwash outside. 

When they finally got back to Quantico, they walked down the steps that had led them up to the roof.

“So how long are you here for?” Ian asked Charlie.

“At least a couple days. I am normally being debriefed and paperwork for two, but I normally tell the people at home that I am going to be at a week-long conference just in case. Why?” Charlie answered.

“Can I take you to dinner while you are here?” Ian asked.

Charlie stared stunned at Ian. “Are you asking me on a date?” Ian’s silence and lack of eye contact said it all. “Sure. Tomorrow night? Give us some time to recuperate from the assignment,” Charlie suggested.

“Sounds good to me.” Ian answered. “Where are you staying so I can pick you up?” 

Charlie shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. Haven’t checked in anywhere yet.”

“I do have a guest room if you want it.” Ian decided to offer. “Although I am afraid there is only one pillow in there, if you need a teddy bear to sleep,” Ian started walking to his car, figuring if Charlie wanted the room he would follow.

Charlie shrugged, decision made since Ian’s guest room sounded a lot better than a hotel. “If I need one I can just crawl into bed with the human size one.” Charlie grinned, joking.

“Why, professor. You should know I don’t put out before the first date,” Ian answered with a grin, climbing into his car and Charlie took the passenger seat.

Charlie shrugged. “Was worth a try,” he explained.

Ian started the car and found himself hoping that Charlie would tempt him anyway. Guess he would find out.


End file.
